Spring 2008 A Buyers Market in Calgary
Well we are just starting to head into the spring market here in Calgary and if the Chinooks can bring us warm weather and melt away snow so can buyer do to our current inventory, melt it away. This spring the market is favouring the buyers. With a total inventory of just over 10,500 Active Listings on the Calgary Real Estate Board’s MLS system, the ball is going to be in the buyer’s court. Without a doubt, there is a large selection of houses for sale in Calgary and surrounding area. As of March 2nd, 2008, we have an inventory of 6,657 Single Family Home Active Listings, 2,810 Condominium Active Listings with an additional 1,054 rural and 67 mobile home Active Listings. So with numbers like that and with more properties due to come on the market for spring, there will be some great selections and some good deals out there as opposed to previous years. We can recall having only 700 homes for sale a couple of years ago when the market was going crazy and sellers were seeing multiple offers, now sellers are happy to to see an offer. So if you are looking to buy this spring, take advantage of the wide selection and negotiate a price that is more desirable to you.
So, if you are a buyer in this market how do you get the best deal? When hiring a realtor to work for you, you are hiring a professional negotiator that knows the market. They can give you many insights on negotiating the best possible price, conditions, and terms that are favourable to you. You may want to read up on a Calgary Buyer's Guide. It is not uncommon to see initial offers of 90% of asking price in this market. Over the past month, the average sale price to list price has been 97.49% for single family home sales and 97.70% for condominium sales. This ratio does fall off a bit when you look at rural sales as they sit at about 95.75%. If you have found a property that is of interest to you, you should ask your Realtor to pull the property history. This will give you a good idea of the history of the property on the MLS system. It will show you how many times the property has been listed, how many times it has been sold and price reductions. This can give you a good idea of where the sellers are sitting. Some places have been on the market since last summer and has since been re-listed several times. If you are looking for a deal, you may want to look for vacant properties as the owners of these places may be carrying two mortgages and there for have a little more motivation to sell. Currently there are 2378 listings in Calgary that are Vacant, which is just under 25% of the market inventory. Another great thing going for buyers is the falling interest rates. We can expect to see some more rate adjustments and the lower it goes the more affordable properties become for buyers. So if you are looking to buy, call your Calgary Mortgage Specialist and get your pre-approval and at the same time get your Realtor to started on your property search today. Real Estate has historically been proven to be one of the safest investments and the President of the Calgary Real Estate board has said that we can expect to see a 5% increase in house values for single family homes and 6% for condominium vales.
Just remember it is a Buyer’s Market.
Sincerely,
403-294-1500
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Date: Sunday, March, 2nd 2008 @ 07:59:17 PMViews: 68
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